Monday, May 9, 2016

Well, we knew something like this was coming: as the U.S. Department of Justice's Monday deadline passes for Governor Pat McCrory to confirm that he won't implement HB 2, McCrory filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of North Carolina against the United States and the DOJ, asking the court to clarify that HB 2 is in compliance with both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Violence Against Women Act.

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In a ten-page complaint, McCrory accuses the DOJ of making "an attempt to unilaterally rewrite long-established federal civil rights laws in a manner that is wholly inconsistent with the intent of Congress and disregards decades of statutory interpretation by the Courts."

"The Obama administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set restroom policies for public and private employers across the country, not just North Carolina," McCrory added in a statement.

The ACLU and Lambda Legal, who are currently locked in their own legal battle with North Carolina over HB 2, quickly put out a statement denouncing the decision. "While transgender people in North Carolina remain in the perilous position of being forced to avoid public restrooms or risk violation of state law, Governor McCrory has doubled down on discrimination against them," the statement said. "It is unconscionable that the government is placing a target on their backs to advance this discriminatory political agenda. Lawsuits are normally filed to stop discrimination—not to continue it."